What a lovely little herb garden. What kind is it that is perennial all the way up in Canada? I'm in Texas. We have lots of lavender farms here; and even here it is a finicky plant at times. I bet all the people who drive by smile when they see your garden.

Very nice!

Sally

Great looking garden, Ann. Is that a baby Salvia officinalis (purple) in the second pix? I grow the gray-silver culinary sage. I'm able to pick all winter...I 'think' your climate is similar to mine although you got lots of snow last year & we had less than 6" total...but even if it snows you can just brush the snow off & the sage remains evergreen & ready for cooking underneath. Next spring, prune it back by about half. I'd also recommend removing the mulch around it & replacing with gravel...sage HATES wet & will rot easily come winter/early spring. Treat it like you would lamb's ear & it'll thrive for you.

I grow lavandula 'Munstead' easily but, again, I have to plant high & keep organic mulch away instead using gravel. It's another plant that doesn't like to be cool & wet. You'll be tempted to prune winter kill early in the spring...don't. Wait until you see active growth on the plant. Lavender is an evergreen woody sub-shrub rather than a perennial. If you prune before it's actively growing...you'll likely lose the plant. I can usually get 5 years from a plant before it get too woody to be attractive in the garden & needs replacing. For your lavender, try mincing some of the flowers fine & adding them to your shortbread along with a touch of zested lemon & just 1-2 finely minced rosemary leaves. Makes a wonderful sophisticated tea cookie.

Ann, rosemary does fine for me here in coastal CT & I'll bet you can grow it also. You're a Zone 6 or 7, right? Plant it a tad high, toss a bit of gravel in the planting hole, & mulch with non-organic material like rocks. Mine's 5 years old & some years there is winter die back but a mid-May pruning & it's growing strong again. I love having rosemary year 'round for cooking. Like lavender, it's an evergreen sub-shrub & you can dig it out from the snow to harvest (cover it back up for cold protection).

In our coastal zones (I'm a Zone 7a) our biggest problem with perennial herbs & woody sub-shrubs is wet not cold. We both get lots of winter & early spring percipitation but if you protect against the rotting you're golden...

Enjoy the herbs!

/tricia

There's nothing better than having your own fresh herbs.

Please tell Moe he did a great job.

Nancy

Nancy I think that he did great too. I passed on your message to him.

Trsinc, I live on Canada's west coast, on Vancouver Island. I've never had a problem with growing herbs here.

Tricia, I've had herb gardens in just about every home and we've always planted the gardens surrounded by mulch. Even back east. I'm not sure why but we have never had a problem with sage or rosemary. And as you mentioned I'm able to use the sage, rosemary, thyme year around out here. Sometimes even the parsley survives if the winter isn't too cold. I just have to brush off the snow. Although we do get snow here occasionally, it usually just lasts on the ground a few days and then everything here is green again.

I love lavender but only for the scent. Tried it in cookies and bought some lavender honey to. But I just don't like it as a culinary herb.

Here is a picture of the Bay Leaf Tree we planted this year. Planted it in a pot rather than the ground. I want to be able to move it into the hot house if need be, depending on how cold our winter is this year. It will eventually get planted in the ground. I had a beautiful big bay leaf tree when we lived in Northern Ontario. I gave it to a friend when we moved. She planted it at her Florida home. I had been looking for a long time for another Bay Leaf but couldn't find a decent size one that wasn't over $150.00. And I didn't want to pay that much. And I didn't want a small one. Got lucky at a commercial nursery near Sidney. Only had to pay $20.00 for this one and it has grown about 18 inches this summer.

Love your garden Ann!!!

The snow doesn't kill the plants off??

The only thing in my garden that came up on it's own was my chive plant AND it's three times as big as last year. LOL

Linda

As always Ann, lovely pictures. I just realized the other day that my Cypriot neighbor has a bay tree by his front door. So many of his plants go inside during the winter...almost a room's worth.

I don't care for the taste of lavender in cooking either. I'm just not a Provencal gal I guess.

Oh Ann, I love it!
I've been looking for a Bay too..

Ann the garden looks great .I can't believe how fast everything is growing..I love the lavender w/ the blue trim:) Perfect together.You must be soo happy.It's all yours too:)
I have 6 now and love watching them grow..I have some Munsteads as they grow beautifully here..3 are not that type but have done well.I even picked bouquets this yr.. w/ the amount you have..you will have so many!
The scent is intoxicatingly beautiful!

And your Bay Leaf! I paid $20.00 and they look like ONE of your branches!!!
Gorgeous Ann..Happy for you.

Beautiful! I really miss our veggie garden as well as our herb garden. Hopefully next yr we can get started again.

Really lovely Ann. I also love the lavendar with the blue trim. Your husband did a great job. I know you both must be enjoying it.

For those that don't like lavender, were you using it fresh or dried? I've never grown it, but it's on my list because I use a dried Herb de Provence spice blend that costs 15.00 for 0.76 oz! I could make it a lot cheaper than that. Anyway, I love that blend. I know, though, we all have different tastes. Just thought I'd bring it up.

The ingredient list on that blend is (in order):

Winter Savory
Thyme
Rosemary
Basil
Tarragon
Lavender Flowers

Lovely herb garden, Ann! Moe did do a very nice job!

I love the lavender. So far I have not had luck getting that to overwinter for me here, but I have one I put in this spring, either a Munstead or Hidcote, I'll have to look at my tags to see which. Supposed to be hardier than some of the others I have tried.

I am envious of the Bay, too!

Linda

doucanoe. I never had luck wintering over Lavender either. Though the maps show me at zone 5 everyone around here said tgo for plants with zone 4 because we are right on edge of 5.

Ann and Moe, that looks wonderful. I am a bit jealous, as the only herb that will over winter for me is the Greek oregano, and that pops up were it will. My pots of chives, and parsley are tucked against the house and covered so they do come back, but never the basil and the thyme goes inside. Rosemary is in its 4th year and sits in my livingroom. At Christmas it gets decorated! Dill seedlings pop up where ever they want, cracks inthe patio, in flowerpots, even in the alley. Talk about organic.

Nice paint job too. Send Moe to me for the front porch that needs a coat or two.

Peppi

Ann, Your herb garden is very nice! So nice and weed free... Ahhhh, I wish I could say that for my herb garden. Tell Moe I think he's doing a great job at keeping busy! I would love to be able to grow lavendar for the smell. I really don't care for it for cooking. I did plant a little bitty Bay this year. Yours is a tree compared to mine :-)

All looks wonderful.

I never got that part of the gardens "done" this year...so I have my basil, sage, etc in pots.
In that awful winter I lost my huge years old sage....just died dead! as did the thyme and tarragon.
Next year!!...I'll bring in the pots though and see how long they live.
I'm jealous....tell Moe he done good!
Linda c

I'm another who doesn't cook with lavender, but I like the smell. Ashley likes it in her bath too.

Ann, that is a perfectly lovely herb garden. Here my basil never made it out of the pot, it just did too well and I was afraid to plant it. I'd love to try growing a bay tree, though, bay leaf is one of my favorite seasonings for all kinds of savory dishes.

My rosemary died, and now is coming up from the roots. I wonder if I mulch it well I can over-winter it here in the frozen tundra?

Annie

I love lemon lavender cookies. I like lavender but when I got of whiff of it for the first time it was pretty offensive to me. Now, I tolerate it, love the look though. Very pretty herb garden. Only half of mine took.

Ann, Moe did a great job on the garden it is absolutely lovely!

I love my herb garden, so nice just going out and clipping nice fresh herbs. In fact I used the oregano in my homemade canned tomato sauce yesterday. I've always wanted a Bay Leaf shrub too but have never seen one in the nurseries around here. Have to keep my eye out next spring.

Ann, your Moe is a man of great talent! That herb garden is so picturesque and he painted the house too? I like the rich blue contrasted with the lavender. Oh, and I'm with you. Lavender is for looking and smelling, but not eating!

Just beautiful! I love the bay tree, too. The blue trim is such a delicious color.